SPEAKER_00 0:00

Psalm chapter 9, verses 1 through 20. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exalt in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they shall stumble and perish before you, before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment. You have rebuked the nations. You have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished. But the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established his throne for justice. And he judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the opposed, a stronghold in the tr in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the people his deeds. For who avenges, for who avenges blood is mindful of them. He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord, see my affliction from those who hate me. O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all of your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have stunk have sunk in the pit that they have made. In the net they have hid their own in the net uh in the net they hid their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Seelah. The wicked shall turn return to Shehol, the nations that forget God, for the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord. Let the nations know that they are but men. Seloch. The word of the Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Maybe some of you are like this. You see a situation with glass half-full lenses. You see the potential and it makes you long for more. I think about how in many sports, basketball and football in particular, there's a halftime in the game. What is halftime for? You go and you reload on snacks and drinks, but halftime, ultimately, it leaves you longing for more. You want the rest of the game. I think about for some runners who enjoy running a marathon, maybe 26.2 miles, there's another race called a half marathon, 13.1 miles. It's astonishing that 13.1 miles would be considered half of anything, but a lot of runners will run a half marathon and finish, and they'll be longing for more. They'll want their next race to be a full marathon. I think of this idea also of half-hearted effort. Perhaps you've put forth half-hearted effort towards something before. Maybe in your uh marriage or your parenting or your grandparenting or in your health or at your job. Or perhaps you hired someone to uh do something at your house, to do some work at your house, and the the contractor did a half-hearted job, gave half-hearted effort. The thing about half-hearted effort is it always leaves you wanting more. You feel like there's more on the table. The thing about God is God does not want half-hearted Christians. That's not his desire for his people. He doesn't want a church filled with half-hearted Christians. God wants us to give us his whole, God wants us to give him our whole hearts. As the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, half of your heart is none of your heart. God wants your whole heart. And so the question this morning then becomes, how do we live a whole-hearted Christian life? If God does not desire from us half-hearted effort, he desires from us whole-hearted effort. What does it look like to live a whole-hearted Christian life? We're going to answer that question from God's word this morning. And so if you haven't already, uh turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 9. Psalm 9. And I'll meet you there in just a moment to talk about living a whole-hearted Christian life. Well, this morning we are beginning a new summer teaching series, Songs of the Summer, working through different psalms each Sunday in the summer months. Now there are 150 psalms, and so we won't be able to hit all of them, but we are going to do our best to study together some of the greatest hits from the Hebrew hymn book. If you were with us last summer in 2025, we also studied some psalms together. And I can assure you, this summer in 2026, we will study some different psalms from those that we looked at in 2025. But I know this series is going to be a blessing to your faith. Here in Psalm 9 this morning, talking about living a wholehearted Christian life, we learn a lot about the Psalm right away in the superscription, in the heading of the psalm. It says that I will recount your wonderful deeds, and this psalm is written to the choir master according to Muth Laban, a psalm of David. So we know that the author of this psalm, Psalm 9, is King David. Not all the psalms were written by David, but many of them were. And Psalm 9 is one such psalm that was written by David. For many of you who have been Christians for a while, King David is a familiar character. You think about the shepherd boy David, David in Goliath, David in Bathsheba. David, his son Solomon, took over for him one day and wrote Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. David is a familiar character for many of you. David was not a perfect person, though. But the good news is that David is remembered in Acts 13, 22, check this out, as a man after God's own heart. Acts 13, 22 should be encouraging to you because I don't know if anyone has told you this lately, but David wasn't perfect, and neither are you, okay? I'm not perfect, you're not perfect, but by God's grace and God's grace alone, we can have a legacy like David's. We can be people who spent our lives chasing after God's own heart. Acts 13, 22. And that David, the David that you know, wrote Psalm 9. It's to the choir master. When interpreting that phrase to the choir master, some will say this was written to the chief musician, to God himself, God in heaven. Perhaps a more plain interpretation of the choir master would simply be to say that Psalm 9 was written to the Israelite worship leader at the time, so that Psalm 9 could be sung in gathered worship. To the choir master, it would be more like Psalm 9 was written to the Pastor Jackson of the time. This is to be sung in gathered worship. According to Muth Laban, that's a Hebrew phrase that means according to, according to Muth Laban, it means the death of the son or the death of a son. And there's really no consensus around why David wrote according to Muth Laban. Some people would say that it's really very simple, that uh Muth Laban was a song back in the day, and David wrote Psalm 9 and said, Hey, choir master, I want the lyrics of Psalm 9 to be put to the tune of the song Muth Laban. Some people would say that. Others would say that David is actually saying Muth Laban, the death of the son, or the death of a son, is referring to the defeat of Goliath and the death of Goliath. Now we don't know for sure, but I do kind of like that interpretation because it fits thematically with the entire psalm that we just read a moment ago. And David praising God for deliverance from his enemies, and the nations turning back, and God being enthroned as not just king of Israel, but king of the whole world. So I we don't know for sure, but I do kind of like the idea that perhaps David wrote Psalm 9 in response to defeating Goliath. But King David wrote Psalm 9, and we know for sure that it teaches us a lot about how to live a wholehearted Christian life. And so, church, let's take some notes this morning. One A on your notes is this practice wholehearted praise by looking around. I'll tell you right now, one of my personal favorite worship songs is titled Look Around by a band called House Fires. I would commend both that song and that band to you. But one A on your notes this morning is that we would praise God by looking around. Look with me in verses one and two of Psalm 9. In verse 1, we find both the title of our message at the top of your bulletin today as well as the title of the passage at the top of the passage in English Bibles. In the first half of verse 1, David says that I will praise you with my whole heart. God has no desire for half-hearted Christianity. God wants us to follow him and pursue him with our whole hearts. That's the reason why the title of today's message is wholehearted. Comes straight out of verse 1. In the second half of verse 1, David says, I will recount your wonderful deeds. That is likely the English title of the Psalm in your English Bibles at the top of Psalm 9. I will recount your wonderful deeds. David goes on to say that I will be glad and exalt in you. I praise your name, O Most High. Now notice that David does not say, I will exalt you. He says, I will exalt in you. To exalt in something or in someone is to find your greatest joy or your greatest satisfaction in that person or in that thing. And so what David is doing here in verse 2 is he's actually saying that I will be glad in you, O God. I will find my greatest joy and my greatest satisfaction in you, O God. David goes on in verse 2 to say, I will praise your name. I will praise your name. You know, names are significant today. They're not unimportant today, but names were a lot more significant back in David's time. Back in David's time, they were far more than just what you are called, they were who you are. And so David in verse 2, he's not saying, I will praise God for what he is called. David in verse 2 is saying, I will praise God for who he is. I will praise his name. We just sang that a moment ago. I will sing praises to the name of God. David gives us one of those names at the end of verse 2. He will praise God, O Most High. The first time that name, O Most High, is recorded in Scripture is in Genesis chapter 14. It's used by Melchizedek for the first time in Scripture. But ultimately what verses 1 and 2 teach us is that we should praise God by looking around. I think about how whenever I um whenever I have the opportunity, the privilege of officiating a wedding, one of the things I love to do, typically toward the beginning of the ceremony, is encourage the bride and the groom standing before me to pause and look around. Don't look at me, the officiant. Don't look at each other. Take a moment and look around at all the family and friends that are gathered to support and encourage and witness and affirm this marriage union. Many of them have traveled far distances to be there. You see, on a wedding day, uh it can be a little bit stressful for the couple sometimes. Maybe the food arrives late for the reception, or maybe the weather isn't what they hoped it would be. And if not careful, a bride and a groom, they can go throughout the entire wedding day without pausing to look around. And so I like to prompt them to pause and look around. And when they do, their problems don't go away, their frustrations don't go away, but they're put into perspective. Because they make eye contact with family and friends who they've known for years, and the blessings that God has bestowed upon them in their lives. Looking around brings things into perspective. And in a spiritual way, something very similar is true of you. Brothers and sisters, there are dozens of things in your life that you could choose to be frustrated by. I'm confident of it. But what you should do instead is just like David, you should pause and look around at God's many blessings in your life. When you do, the frustrations, they won't go away. I wish they would, but they won't. But they will be put into perspective. Because you'll recognize and remember all the many ways that God has blessed you and blessed your family. Praise the Lord, just like David in verses 1 and 2 by looking around. Hey, church, 1B on your notes this morning is this 1B. Practice wholehearted praise by looking back. Practice wholehearted praise by looking back. Look with me in verses three through six of Psalm 9. In verse 3, David makes reference to the presence of the Lord. For the believer, the presence of the Lord is something to long for and something to enjoy. For the unbeliever, the presence of the Lord is something to fear. Verse 3. If you're looking in verse 4, David thanks God for maintaining his just cause. Later on in the Old Testament, in Micah chapter 6, verse 8, the Lord commands his people to do three things do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with him. Do justice. In verse 4, David's cause was just, not because of David's innovative thinking or creativity. David's cause was just because it was aligned with the will of God. As one preacher puts it, we shouldn't try to get God on our side. We should try to get ourselves on God's side. David was thanking God for maintaining his just cause, and his cause was just because it was aligned with the will of God. In verses five and six, David uses quite a bit of eternal language. He says that the torment for the wicked will go on forever and ever in verse five. He says that the wicked will experience everlasting ruins. That's very eternal language. You know, there's when it comes to the doctrine of hell, there is a there's an incorrect doctrine called annihilationism. Annihilationism incorrectly teaches that heaven is eternal, but hell is temporary. Again, this is incorrect. But annihilation would say that those who are wicked and unrighteous and die without ever believing in the name of Jesus, will spend a temporary time in hell, and then one day God will annihilate it so that their torment will cease. But the righteous will spend forever in heaven with God. I'll admit to you, there's a part of me that wishes annihilationism were true, but it's not biblical. There are verses all throughout the scriptures, including Psalm 9, 5, and 6, that teach us both our time in heaven as righteous people in Christ will be eternal, but so will the torment for the wicked and the unrighteous. It'll go on forever and ever. It'll be everlasting, Psalm 9, 5, and 6. And what we shouldn't try to do is do some gymnastics to find annihilationism in the scriptures. Instead, we should embrace the doctrine of eternal torment, and it should motivate our evangelism and our international missions. You want to know why First Baptist Leesburg is so committed to sharing the gospel both locally and abroad? It's because there's eternal torment awaiting those who have died without ever hearing the name of Jesus, and who more importantly die without ever believing in the name of Jesus. That motivates us as individual Christians. That motivates us as a church. But ultimately, what David is teaching us in verses 3 through 6 is to praise God by looking back. You'll notice in those four verses that David uses past tense language in all four verses. He's looking back, and he encourages us to do something similar. You know, Facebook has been around for about 20 years now. It's been publicly available since 2006. And I know many of you are on Facebook, not all of you are on Facebook, but it's been around for so long that Facebook now has a feature called Facebook Memories. You guys ever opened Facebook and seen a Facebook memory before? How it works is maybe there's a picture that you posted years ago, or a picture somebody else posted, and you're tagged in, and you'll open the Facebook app, and Facebook will just feed you a picture and say, on this day 13 years ago. Or on this day nine years ago, and you're just looking at a memory from a decade ago. And I'll admit to you, I'm a secretly a pretty sentimental guy. And so I'll sit there and I'll look at the Facebook memory for a little while. Maybe some of you have done this too, and I'll just think about how the days are long, but the years are just flying right by. And David encourages us to praise the Lord by looking back. As Christians, we don't need Facebook to prompt us to look back on all the things that God has done in our lives. The Holy Spirit can help you if you pause and pray and look back on your life. The Holy Spirit will bring to mind all the great ways that God has moved in your life. And it'll bring the present into perspective when you reflect on the past. I love this leadership quote when it when talking about goal setting and the pursuit of goals. One leadership quote is this You've already achieved things that you once said would make you happy. So look back on all that God has done in your life and be content and be thankful. Praise Him in that way. Hey, one C on your notes this morning, church, is this one C. Practice wholehearted praise by looking up. Look around, look back. Now practice wholehearted praise by looking up. Look with me in verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 9. In verse 7, David makes reference to the throne of God twice. God is seated on his throne. He will be enthroned forever. The throne of God here is illustrative. It points us to the sovereignty of God and God's complete control over all things. God designed all this, he created all this, he's sustaining all this, he's in control of all this. And when we think about God's throne and God's sovereignty, it shouldn't bother us. We shouldn't wish that God had less control and we had more. Instead, it should comfort us. The throne of God should comfort us because in a world that oftentimes feels chaotic, in a world that sometimes feels out of control, God is in control. He is on his throne and he will be enthroned forever. As one preacher puts it, this throne can never be overthrown. God will be enthroned forever. In verse 8, David goes on. He talks about how the throne of God, God will be on his throne forever and ever. And then David goes on to say, What is God doing on his throne? Well, he's casting judgment. He will judge the whole world with righteousness, and then he will judge all the peoples with uprightness. Verse 8, it seems a little bit repetitive, and in some ways it is. As we study the Psalms together, you'll notice how a lot of the Psalm writers, including David, they oftentimes employ some repetition in their psalms. But there is a slight nuance to each phrase in verse 8. The world is very broad, the peoples in it is a bit more specific. God judges with righteousness is referring to his morality. He can only do what is right and never what is wrong. God's uprightness refers to his impartiality. He can only do what is fair and never what is unfair. God judges the world and all the peoples in it, and he judges them rightly and fairly, verse 8. The first half of Psalm 9.8 is actually quoted by Paul in Acts chapter 17, verse 31. In Acts 17, 31, Paul is in Athens and he's giving a speech to a pagan audience. They're pagan so that they don't really realize that he's quoting Psalm 9.8, but it's a very polytheistic audience, meaning they believe in many gods. They believe there's a little g God over this and a little g God over that. But Paul in Acts 17.31 quotes Psalm 9.8 and says, No, no, the God of Israel is not only the God of Israel, he's the God of all the nations. And the one true and living God, Psalm 9 8, will judge the world with righteousness. That's what Paul quotes in Acts 17 31. But ultimately, what David is doing in verses 7 and 8 is he's looking up at the throne of God, and he's encouraging us. To do something similar this morning, to praise God by looking up. You know, as a parent of three young children, all of you, most of you know that Hannah and I, we have three kids, their ages are four and three and two. One of my favorite parenting tactics is the lookup tactic. Here's what I mean. When you have little kids, uh we love to go outside, go on walks and bike rides and play in the backyard. When a little kid gets frustrated with something, I'll just tell them to look up. And there's bound to be something up there, okay? A cloud, a bird, an airplane, a helicopter. Just say, look up, there's an airplane. And I do it all the time. It happened, it happened just yesterday, actually. We were in the backyard and uh we were having popsicles, okay? Well, May Lynn was having a popsicle, Piper was having a popsicle, and I was eating Gunner's popsicle because he was being disobedient. And so he got to watch dad eat his popsicle. Now, Piper is sitting there and she drops her popsicle in the grass. And I want you to know that as an adult, that's not a big deal. As a three-year-old, it's a big deal. So Piper starts freaking out. And luckily, now I don't believe in luck, but you know what I mean. Luckily, right at that moment, a helicopter flies over our house. And so Hannah says, Piper, look up a helicopter. And she looks up and she stops crying because she's distracted by the helicopter. Now the popsicle's still sitting in the grass, dirty, but Piper's looking up distracted. Maybe you're here this morning, brothers and sisters, and you've got a popsicle sitting in the grass. Some circumstance in your life, it didn't go the way you thought. Your health isn't what you thought it would be at this age, your finances aren't what you thought it would be at this age. Maybe something's wrong in one of your relationships. It's strained in a way that you never thought it would be strained. You've got a popsicle sitting in the grass, but the Lord is calling you through his word to look up. Look up at the throne of God. God is in control. As one preacher puts it, if Jesus is raised from the dead, which he is, then God is on his throne. And if God is on his throne, which he is, then everything will be okay. The popsicle may still be sitting in the grass dirty. Your circumstances might not change immediately, but you can look up at God and his sovereignty. God seated on his throne and praise him in the midst of it all. Praise God by looking up. Hey church, let's keep working through your notes this morning. 2A on your notes is this 2A. Practice wholehearted trust by running to God in times of trouble. Trust God by running to him in times of trouble. Look with me in verse 9 of Psalm 9. In verse 9, David says that God is a stronghold for the oppressed. He's a stronghold in times of trouble. What is a stronghold? A stronghold is a fortified refuge, a place where you can run, a place where you can hide in the midst of a battle, in the midst of a storm, and be safe. God is that for you. God is a stronghold for you. He's a stronghold for the oppressed. It is true that in 2026 in the United States of America, I wouldn't say that we face zero persecution and zero systemic religious oppression, but it is minimal compared to what Christians around the world face and what Christians throughout history have faced. That said, we should still identify ourselves right here in verse 9. We should still see ourselves in verse 9. The key phrase in oppression is pressure. When you're experiencing the pressures of life, you should run to God as your stronghold. Run to Him in times of trouble. Verse 9 is a bit repetitive, kind of like verse 8, but it tells us in the first half of verse 9, who should run, and in the second half of verse 9, when to run. Who should run? The oppressed. You and I, we should run. When should we run? In times of trouble, we run to God. This is why David's son Solomon in Proverbs 18 10 says that God is a stronghold for the righteous. And in times of trouble, the righteous run to God. In times of trouble, the righteous do not casually stroll to God as their stronghold. In times of trouble, the righteous sprint to God, our stronghold. Just a moment ago, I mentioned our three kids, and our our kids love dogs. Hannah and I love dogs too, but our kids love dogs. As you guys know, unfortunately, not all dogs are friendly, right? And so we've had to train our kids to ask the owner before ever petting a dog, hey, can I pet your dog? And the owner will say yes or no, and then we engage. And so now sometimes uh sometimes even dogs that are friendly might scare my kids a little bit. So we were at um, we were actually yesterday at a Brown Farm. So big shout out to our band of brothers and our 55 and under Connect group. Uh they set up a tent at the flea market at Brown Farm yesterday morning and invited hundreds of people to church today. It was super, super awesome. My family went out there with them for a little bit, and um there was a bunch of dogs. People were bringing their dogs, and so my kids left and right were can I pet your dog? Can I pet your dog? And they would meet a dog sometimes, and maybe the dog is friendly, but it wants to play, and so it jumps at the kid, or maybe it barks, and my kids will run and hide behind me. Because they know that I will protect them from the dog. I will let the dog bite me before I ever let it bite one of my kids. And something very similar is true about you and your relationship with your heavenly father. He's a safe place to hide. In times of trouble, you can run to God, he is your stronghold. And in the midst of a storm, the storm may not pass, the storm may still hit, but God is your stronghold in the midst of the storm, and he will check this out, he will maintain a strong hold on you in the midst of the storm. Run to him in times of trouble. Hey, church, to be on your notes is this to be. Practice wholehearted trust by seeking to know God at all times. To be, trust God by seeking to know him. Look with me now in verses 10 and 11 of Psalm 9. In verse 10, David says, Those who know you, trust you. Those who know your name, trust you, and you do not forsake those who seek you. Those who know you, trust you. If if verse 1 was the foundation for the first half of this passage, praise God with your whole heart, then verse 10 is the foundation for the second half of this passage. Trust God with your whole heart. You see that word trust in verse 10. We've talked about the concept of names in David's time already a little bit. A name is not simply what you are called, it's who you are in David's time. But similarly, that word no, K-N-O-W, in David's time, it was so much more than an intellectual awareness. It was a deep affection. And so what David is not saying in verse 10 is those who are intellectually aware of what God is called, trust him. No, no. David is saying, those who deeply love who God is, trust him. Those who know God's name, trust in God. God will not forsake those who seek him. There's an awesome verse that connects with Psalm 910. And it's Jeremiah 29, verse 13. In Jeremiah 29, 13, the Lord says, If you seek me, you will find me if, check this out, if you seek me with your whole heart. Jeremiah 29, 13. Those who seek after the Lord with their whole hearts will find what they're looking for. They will find the Lord, and the Lord, Psalm 9.10, will never forsake you if you seek him with your whole hearts. David goes on in verse 11 to say that we will sing to the Lord, something we love to do at our church, sing to the Lord. And also we will tell other people about the Lord. If you are trusting in the Lord and seeking to know the Lord, then you cannot help but tell others about him. That's just human nature. We tell other people about what amazes us. We tell other people about what we're passionate about. And if you're amazed by God and you're passionate about God, then you can't help but tell other people about him. We tell other people about that which amazes us. But ultimately, what David is asking us to do and encouraging us to do in verses 10 and 11 is trust God by seeking to know him. You know, I uh I've spent a lot of time in uh in youth ministry, and I miss it. Uh once a youth pastor, always a youth pastor. But there was a there was a youth pastor I was talking to one time, and he was he was kind of confiding in me, um complaining to me just a little bit. In the span of one week, this youth pastor had uh three different sets of parents uh plan meetings and appointments in his office. And they didn't want to complain about the ministry. What he found out is they were actually seeking his advice on uh dating advice for their teenager or parenting advice for their teenager. And he was he was complaining a little bit because he had to spend so much time on these meetings. Time preparing for the meetings and researching and planning what he was gonna say, time in the meetings, time following up on the meetings. Hey, how's it going, parents, with your with your teenager? And he was complaining to me, he's like, I this is taking away from my job. I have youth group sermons to prepare, and I have kinet group discussions to write, and I have summer camps to plan. And I was able to kindly correct this youth pastor and say, no, no, this is not taking away from your job. This is the best part of your job. You have parents that trust you and are seeking your advice. In fact, it's probably problematic if you have a youth pastor with no parents seeking their advice. It probably means they're executing a really great program for teenagers without building relationships and trust with the parents of those teenagers. And so I was able to share with him that those parents are seeking his advice because those parents trust him. Something very similar is true about you and your relationship with the Lord. If you are seeking after God and seeking after him with your whole heart, that is evidence that you trust God. But contrastly, if you're failing to seek after God, or if you're half-heartedly seeking after God, perhaps that is evidence that you're struggling to trust him for some reason right now. Trust God by seeking to know him. Alright, church, 2C on your notes is this. Practice wholehearted trust by committing all your opponents to God. Trust God by committing all your opponents to him. Look with me now in verses 12 through 20. We've got nine verses. We're gonna fly through. You guys gotta listen fast. Verses 12 through 20. In verse 12, uh God says that uh the wicked, they tend to forget him. The wicked tend to forget God. But in verses uh 13 and 14, David he starts talking about gates. And he he thanks God in verse 13 for rescuing him and delivering him from the gates of death. But then in verse 14, David says, I'm so grateful to now be in the gates of Zion. The gates of Zion were at the gates of Jerusalem. It was a very public place. It wasn't really what you think of now as like an actual gate that you open or close. The gates were a public place where people publicly declared things and proclaimed things. And now David is in a public place in Zion, in Jerusalem, proclaiming uh the excellencies of our God. But it's because he was delivered from the gates of death. Now he's in the gates of Zion, in the gates of Jerusalem. I want to focus on that phrase in verse 13, how David was lifted up from the gates of death. Here's the thing: David was delivered from some specific near-death experience in the past. Perhaps when he fought Goliath, perhaps some other near-death experience, we're not sure. But he's praising God for deliverance from the gates of death. He was lifted up from the gates of death. But you'll know you know something about David is that one day he did end up dying. And the thing is, as Christians, our hope is not in the person and work of David. Our hope is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And 2,000 years ago, on the third day, Jesus Christ was lifted up from the gates of death. But you know what's different about Jesus compared to David? Jesus never died again. Jesus is alive today. And the reason we're gathered in this room right now is because Jesus was lifted up from the gates of death never to die again. Jesus is alive today, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that lifted Jesus from the gates of death, is working in our midst right now to make us more like Jesus and to help us be a light to this community. David was lifted up from the gates of death to die one day, but Jesus was lifted from the gates of death never to die again. In verses 15 and 16, David talks about how God has a track record of taking what people mean for evil and using it for good. David says, My enemies, they dug for me a pit, and then they fell in the pit that they dug. He says in verses 15 and 16 that my enemies, they set for me a trap, and then they found themselves ensnared in the trap they set for me. God takes what other people intend for evil and uses it for good. I think about Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, where Joseph says, What you intended for evil, God intended for good. Or I think about in the book of Esther, chapter 7, verse 10, where Haman ends up getting hanged on the gallows that he built for Mordecai. God has a track record of taking what other people meant for evil and using it for good. In verse 17, David talks about how the wicked they forget God, but then in verse 18, he he kind of turns it on its head and says, But God never forgets the poor or the needy. Hey, can I tell you something? God never forgets the poor and the needy, and neither does First Baptist Leesburg. The poor and the needy at our church have a special place in our hearts. They're important to God, they're important to us. The Matthew 25, least of these, are so important to us here at First Baptist Church Leesburg. The Christian care center is just one manifestation of that, but as individual members in the community, we look out for the poor and the needy because God doesn't forget them, and we should not either. In verse 19, David calls out to God and says, God, arise. What he's not saying to God is, God, wake up, you're asleep. No, no, arise is kind of like a militant term. God, arise and fight my battles for me. And then finally in verse 20, David says, God, put the nations in their place. Help the nations realize that they are but men. I love that phrase, they are but men. And here's why. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 4, Paul tells us that at one time we were all dead in our trespasses and sins. But Ephesians 2.4, but God made us alive together with Christ. And here's the thing, brothers and sisters, don't miss this. In order to have an Ephesians 2.4, but God experience, you must first have a Psalm 9.20, but man experience. In order to accept the good news of the gospel, you must first accept the bad news of your sin. In order to have a but God experience, you must first have a but-man experience. And ultimately, what God is teaching us in verses 12 through 20 is to commit all of our opponents to the Lord. You know, in sports, many sports, it doesn't really matter which one. A lot of coaches will tell their players some version of this advice: never throw the second punch. Because that's the one the referees see. It happened Friday night in the Spurs Knicks game. Wemby threw the first punch, Robinson threw the second one. Guess who got called for the foul? Mitchell Robinson. Never throw the second punch. Never retaliate because it doesn't end up helping your team. It ends up hurting your team. Something very similar is true about you and me. When we are spiritually opposed, don't respond in kind. Don't retaliate. Don't throw the second punch because it never ends up helping your team. It only ends up hurting your team. No, to be clear, we're not talking about physical opposition. If someone is trying to harm my wife or my children, I will stand in their way. And if someone is trying to harm your family, you should stand in their way. But we are talking about spiritual opposition. When someone is trying to tear down your faith with blasphemy or heresy, or when someone is trying to tear down our church with gossip or slander, do not throw the second punch. Commit that opposition and commit those opponents to the Lord. Trust God and commit all your opponents to Him. But ultimately this morning, church, as we look at Psalm 9, we learned from David all about what it looks like to live a whole-hearted Christian life. We should practice wholehearted praise and we should practice wholehearted trust. But maybe you're here this morning and you don't have a relationship with God through Christ. Maybe you're here this morning and you would not consider yourself a Christian. We're really, really glad that you're here. But maybe if that's you, you can't think about doing anything with your whole heart right now because your heart, your heart is broken. And you've tried everything you can think of to mend your own heart, but nothing is working. Hey, can I tell you something? Your broken heart is ultimately a result of your broken relationship with the God of the universe. But God has good news for you this morning. In Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 26 and 27, God is talking, and God says, if you seek me, if you trust me, if you believe in me, I will give you a new heart, he says. I will take out your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of beating flesh. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, but you want to have a new heart today, you want to have a mended heart, a mended relationship with God, you can do that today through Christ. Let me tell you what's about to happen. In just a moment, I'm going to pray to close our time of Bible study and ask God's blessing on the study of his word today. And when I say amen, we will sing one more song of worship. Everyone in the room will stand and sing one more song of worship. And as we sing, many people will sing and reflect from their pews. A lot of people will come pray at the altar. The altar is open this morning for anyone to pray about anything. But if you're here today and you're not a Christian, as we sing, myself and some other members of our team will be standing across the front. We would encourage you to come forward and grab one of us. We'd love nothing more than to talk and pray with you about becoming a Christian today. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we love you and we praise you. God, may Oxford campus and First Baptist Leesburg be filled with whole-hearted Christians praising you and trusting you all the days of our life. God, I pray for that one person in the room right now who's not a Christian, who has a broken heart because of a broken relationship with you. God, would today be the day of their salvation? Would today be the day when you heal their heart and give them a new heart through faith in Christ? Would today be the day when they step from death to life, from darkness to light? Would you give them the courage to walk forward as we sing? We pray all these things in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me?